Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[wolfpup]

My chickens want to come live at your house! Your girls are very nicely spoiled. Good job!! Logically, biologically, hair or feathers pulled out traumatically take longer for the follicle to generate new hair or feathers; much longer than the body takes to replace normally falling out hair or feathers that would have the new one waiting a cell layer behind the leaving one. So, maybe just patience is required, seeing as how there is no way you could improve on your feeding routine to give her anymore nutrition for refeathering. I'm guessing "Feather Fixer" is not as good as what you're doing. IMHO : )

Thanks Bev

Just thought I would add a few more photos - I am aware that some people when they have a problem with their girls may overstate just what they are doing for them - so thought I would show you some of their sprouts



These are the sprouted lentils, mung beans, alfalfa and raddish - which will last them 2 days normally. In the background you can see one of the doll-house coops



This is one tray of wheat and barley sprouts started off two days ago in another 4 days they should be 2" long grass shoots - the girls tear the whole mat apart and eat everything, the grass, roots and the grains - nothing is wasted!



Another set of two trays



Making four trays in all


Hunting for bugs this afternoon - in the background you just might be able to make out our small fish pond (covered) full of chickweed which I also grow for the girls to supplement their lack of free-range pasture. Could tell they really enjoyed themselves - we had to chase them back into the fox-proof run with a hose pipe and water

I am sure your girls get far more freedom than mine do - but I do the best I can with what little I have

 

[Triple Willow]

Very nice Wolfpup, very!

 

[wolfpup]

Very nice Wolfpup, very!

Thank you TW

 

[lisaleedy]

here are my girlz (hope). 2are from hatchry 3from feed store.

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[lisaleedy]

here are my girlz (hope). 2are from hatchry 3from feed store.

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aaaaawwwwwwwwWwwwwwww DRAT!wrong forum! aaaahhhhhh sooooooo much aggrivation i went through to post this! breath... breath.. count.. 1 ...2... 3.. 4..5. 6 .7 8 9 10 .....

 

[wolfpup]

How cute are they LIsa??????????????? I bet you can barely tear yourself away from them.

 

[wolfpup]

OK. The pumpkin seeds arrived today, so I diligently added about a teaspoon of castor oil to around half a cupful of seeds and went out to offer them to my girls. As usual they stormed up saying ME, ME, ME, ME, ME FIRST!

They grabbed at the seeds - ........................ and Phooey! Spat them out with venom and gave me the stink-eye - I had never seen 'stink-eye' before - but believe me, I know what it looks like now!

I then tried them on just pumpkin seeds - no castor oil, - same result! "You expect us to eat that C**p"????.

I swear I could hear those cheeps making those words...................................................EPIC FAIL.

So in desperation I have dumped two large serving spoonfulls into their fermented feed - they WILL get them one way or another!

Trying to get the new coop integrated into the existing coop and foxproof section of run - my DH is NOT 'handy' - its a mess

. His ideas and mine are totally different - and mine are right (obviously) - unfortunately he is not a man who can be argued with - or reasoned with (long story) so I have decided to hold off getting the new girls until I return from a week's holiday with my son and grandson - I go on Thursday (can't wait - I only get to see them three times a year). That way he will only have to deal with the girls he knows and I can then sort the new girls out and get them acclimatised without worrying if he can cope with new girls as well as our own whilst I am away.

 

[n3kms]

Quote:
No experience with pumpkin seeds yet, but with husbands..................sounds familiar.

 

[Beekissed]

OK. The pumpkin seeds arrived today, so I diligently added about a teaspoon of castor oil to around half a cupful of seeds and went out to offer them to my girls. As usual they stormed up saying ME, ME, ME, ME, ME FIRST!

They grabbed at the seeds - ........................ and Phooey! Spat them out with venom and gave me the stink-eye - I had never seen 'stink-eye' before - but believe me, I know what it looks like now!

I then tried them on just pumpkin seeds - no castor oil, - same result! "You expect us to eat that C**p"????.

I swear I could hear those cheeps making those words...................................................EPIC FAIL.

So in desperation I have dumped two large serving spoonfulls into their fermented feed - they WILL get them one way or another!

Trying to get the new coop integrated into the existing coop and foxproof section of run - my DH is NOT 'handy' - its a mess

. His ideas and mine are totally different - and mine are right (obviously) - unfortunately he is not a man who can be argued with - or reasoned with (long story) so I have decided to hold off getting the new girls until I return from a week's holiday with my son and grandson - I go on Thursday (can't wait - I only get to see them three times a year). That way he will only have to deal with the girls he knows and I can then sort the new girls out and get them acclimatised without worrying if he can cope with new girls as well as our own whilst I am away.

Yes, I can understand this story on all counts! Next time I'd let them get really hungry...an all day fast, then top dress a small amount of the FF with the CO/PS mixture so they will get a concentrated dose. They say the cucurbitin level has to be pretty high to affect a change in the worms. I'd say it's the same thing with the castor bean extract.

After they've eaten that small amount of FF laced with the goodies, then I'd feed them their regular ration. More than one way to skin a cat, they say.

If I lived nearby we'd tackle that coop together...I know exactly what you mean by the poor "vision" of men...they look at something and only complicate it, we look at something and see the big picture. Of course, there are women that lack that sort of vision too, so can't knock the guys too much but they just happen to be the people with the tools and the carpentry experience in most cases.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Yes, I can understand this story on all counts! Next time I'd let them get really hungry...an all day fast, then top dress a small amount of the FF with the CO/PS mixture so they will get a concentrated dose. They say the cucurbitin level has to be pretty high to affect a change in the worms. I'd say it's the same thing with the castor bean extract.

After they've eaten that small amount of FF laced with the goodies, then I'd feed them their regular ration. More than one way to skin a cat, they say.

If I lived nearby we'd tackle that coop together...I know exactly what you mean by the poor "vision" of men...they look at something and only complicate it, we look at something and see the big picture. Of course, there are women that lack that sort of vision too, so can't knock the guys too much but they just happen to be the people with the tools and the carpentry experience in most cases.

Hey Bee.....isn't that where ricin comes from????